Week 6: Alachua County Home Location

The above maps were created while completing the Week 6 module. It shows the outputs of choosing a home location based on several factors. The toughest part of this assignment was keeping all the maps and data straight. I found the overlay process very interesting. My two outputs for the even and uneven overlays were very similar. The best tracts from the overlays were identical. I think this is because using so many factors caused the output to vary little.

Week 4 Participation Activity

GIS in today's world plays a major role in disaster response and recovery. The first thing GIS can do after a disaster is create an understanding of what happened and what is continuing to happen. Without this knowledge, any attempts to respond and recover would be misguided and ineffective. Once an understanding of the scope and drivers of the disaster are attained, GIS can begin to target where and how help can be allocated effectively.

The decisions that GIS can help make are varied. They can include where to boom for an oil spill or where to set up health and government aid centers for the affected population. GIS can allow emergency managers to be very specific in their response. Good data can provide cultural and demographic insite to affected areas. This means such things as language barriers can be identified before responders move in, allowing for the correct personnel to be directed to areas they would be most effective.

As the disaster response and recovery moves on, GIS can be a great tool to keep the public informed. The general public will want to know what is being done to to help their community recover from a disaster. No communication between the recovery effort and the public can lead to tension and mistrust. Allowing the public to see maps that communicate how the disaster response and recovery are being handled can go a long way to ease public tension and curiosity. Being able to visually communicate to residents of an area whats going on is the best way to put efforts in perspective that they will understand. This can open up a channel of communication that may lead to constructive feedback from people who know the area the best and open up possible solutions previously unknown.

The clean up efforts in a disaster can become a long and tedious process. GIS is a great tool for making clean ups efficient and effective. Standing on the outside looking in, a disaster area be overwhelming. GIS allows responders to identify what, where and how to deploy assets that would not be so apparent from ground level.


The Deepwater Horizon oil spill has brought a heavy dose of GIS into the response and recovery. Since the explosion and oil leak began, GIS has been used to assess the oil spill and the subsequent response and recovery.

At the beginning of this disaster, GIS aided in tracking and calculating the sized of the spill through aerial imagery. This allowed for assets such as boats with booms to be properly positioned to block as much oil as possible.

Once it became clear that the oil would be flowing from the well for a long period of time, preparations needed to be made to protect the coasts from the oil. Maps using aerial photography, wind and current models were used to show the project oil path. This allowed local, state and federal officials to determine where and what protection would be most efficient in combating the oil. This would include where to locate booms and where to set up staging areas for such things as animal recovery and cleaning efforts.

Since the oil spill is so far out in the Gulf of Mexico, the general public only understands the scope of the disaster through maps we see on the internet and television. GIS has been a great help in visualizing where the oil is and who will be affected. This has an economic component as well. The gulf region's economy is driven in a big part by tourism. Places like northwest Florida rely on tourists to visit the area. Using maps that communicate that their beaches are not yet greatly affected by the oil spill can help in bringing in tourists who may stay away completely. The businesses who suffered economic loss such as resorts and fisherman will surely be seeking financial compensation from BP. GIS will play an important role in assessing what they are entitled to with factors such as proximity to oil spill.

Clean up efforts will be driven by GIS. Maps will show where crews should be placed and what type environment they will be working in. GIS will also allow for wildlife workers to identify areas most inhabited by certain animals. GIS will help them locate areas to release treated animals to insure they are in the safest environment possible.

Module 5: Urban Planning

The above maps were created from Module 5: Urban Planning. This exercise helped me understand methods used in analysing land in different ways in the urban environment. I also picked up how to apply an automatic layout for maps which will come in handy in the future.

Module 4: Project 2 - ESI Maps

The above maps were created in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. They show environmental and economic sensitivity to this disaster. These maps can be used to mitigate possible damage by the oil by identifying who is in charge and what areas are most important to protect.

The most at risk areas include marshes and swamps. Out of the 63 miles of shoreline, 14 miles fall within the ESI rating of 10, being the most sensitive. The areas will be harder to clean up and have to endure the greatest impact of the oil.

The federal government is in charge of a large portion of the coast represented. The state government has a smaller area of authority. There are still a many areas which are not defined on who would have authority.

Regarding boom, 3600 ft. with many more ft. proposed and planned. The boom is and will be placed strategically to protect the most sensitive shorelines.

Birds, Terrestrial Mammals, Invertebrates and Reptiles are sensitive creatures in the map area. It seems the invertebrates will be affected the most by the oil as they inhabit all waters. They will have the least protection and would be virtually impossible to have a catch, clean and release program.

Tourism is a main economic driver for this region. As the map shows, there are many recreational beaches that draw tourists every year. There also many marinas that are home charter fishing boats. With oil affecting the area, fishing will be off limits or perceived as off limit, impacting the local economy in a negative way.

I would like to have done more in the way of graphs and tables, but this week's projects took a great deal of time. It was interesting working on a project that hit so close to home and is still ongoing.

Module2: Project 2

The flooding in Key West related to Hurricane Wilma is great. The above maps show nearly all important infrastructure affected by the storm surge. With the amount of infrastructure in need of repair, I would recommend hospitals and airports be the first priority. This will help treat the sick and injured and expedite the flow of aid into Key West. The second priority should be schools and churches were shelters and staging areas can be prepared.

Regarding the types of land affected, developed land has overwhelmingly been flooded. It accounts for 69.9 % of the flooded land. The developed land is also evenly distributed around the island, not just concentrated in one area.

The issues I had in this project were the disappearance of a couple of islands during the process. I am now left with a few places label without land. There was some discussion about this in elearning but did not have time to get to the bottom of this.